从文献史、书籍史到文献文化史

From History of Literature and History of Books up to Cultural History of Literature

中国学术传统对文献的重视,使文献校雠之学、文献史、出版史、藏书史等专门研究在现当代以来得到持续发展,但这些研究仍然缺乏对整体文献的社会文化意义的关注。当代海外汉学进行的中国书籍社会史研究,则因单纯移植西方"书籍史"问题意识而呈现出种种不足。与西方不同,中国文献书籍社会、文化意义的根本问题是文献图书的悠久历史与古代社会发展和文化传统延续的内在关系及其内涵。只有在此问题意识下展开"文献—文化"的探讨,才能达成关于中国古代文献历史、作用、意义的自我思考的拓展和深化。

The strong interest in literature in Chinese academic tradition has sustained even a contemporary development of such studies as emendation of text,history of literature,history of book publishing,and history of book collecting.And yet,unfortunately,little attention has been directed to the cultural and social functions of literature at large.The overseas sinologists’works on Chinese social history of books prove to be weak due to their indiscriminate transplant of western ideas and methodology.Different from the western one,the critical issue concerning the social and cultural functions of books in China is absolutely no more than the relation of a long history of book publishing and collecting to its influence on the social development and cultural heritage in ancient China.Only with'literature in culture'in mind can we attain a more profound understanding of Chinese ancient literature.